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Is Dunsfold Village’s very own Drill or Drop – on its​​ way?

UK Oil & Gas plc has given details of a proposed new well site in Surrey.

The company, which is the major investor at the Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, says it is preparing to apply for planning permission for exploration at Dunsfold, home of the famous airfield and Top Gear track.

Both of which have been the subject of numerous posts on this site – in the past, present and no doubt in the future. We at the Waverley Web cannot help wondering if the Protect Our Waverley (POW) gang will be up for yet another fight?

In a letter to residents, living in the village 8 miles south of Guildford UKOG said it wanted to drill and test a hydrocarbon well, to be called Dunsfold-1. If the well were successful, UKOG said it would drill and test a sidetrack, Dunsfold-1Z.

Villagers have been invited to drop into the Dunsfold Village Hall on Wednesday between 3pm and 7pm to hear the news – and ask questions.

Investigations by the Waverley ‘Web have revealed that exploration for gas occurred in nearby Alfold in the 1990s.

4 thoughts on “Is Dunsfold Village’s very own Drill or Drop – on its​​ way?”

Would useful to know exactly where they are planning to do this – regardless how would the small roads cope with the Oil Tankers? They say…….

“The surface location is very much governed by the subsurface extend of the potential hydrocarbon resource, although other considerations, such as proximity to a good highway network, distance from residential properties, ecology and visual impacts are all taken fully into account.”

I would love to know where the GOOD HIGHWAY NETWORK is coming from. No Doubt SCC will say there is a perfectly good Highway Network between Dunsfold and the A281!!

Of course SCC wil say there is a good highway network, because it is when it suits them. When The Dunsfold scheme came forward first – think it was 2008 – the highway network was not sufficient to take the extra traffic. Since then 1,700 homes in Cranleigh and many more in the Eastern villages have been approved – and so has Dunsfold and the Highway Network is not a problem!

The site is said to be at Pratts Corner , there is a public meeting at The Sun Pub on Sunday 24th Feb at 7 pm with speakers Nichola Peel , a long time climate activist and Tony Whitbread ( retired Sussex Wildlife )

There’s a meeting at Winn Hall, the village hall in Dunsfold, at 7pm Sunday 24th to raise awareness of what’s likely to happen, based on other communities experiences of UKOG! Speakers will include Nicola Peel, International environment campaigner and Tony Whitbread, retired CEO of Sussex Wildlife. ‘please come along and find out what UKOG won’t be telling us. The CEO of UKOG is quoted as saying ‘This type of oil deposit very much depends on being able todrill your wells almost back to back,so it becomes very much like an industrial process’ This is because their not pumping from a big pool below the ground but instead pumping a cocktail of acid and biocides, not to mention a few other ingredients, under very high pressure, to dissolve the rock adjacent to the well. Only the rock around the well can be reached and dissolved so new wells need to be dug all over the area with oil trapped in the rock! There is an area covering Dunsfold and Ciddingfold with Chiddingfold having much richer reserves even than Dunsfold!